OUR ENGLISH LETTER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 764, 22 October 1886, Page 24

OUR ENGLISH LETTER

(FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

BULGARIA. Bonbon, September 8. The progress of eveDts in the East .is so rapid and so phenomenal that it is practically impossible in any way to keep up with them, or to evolve order and meaning out of the chaos and mystery which at present surrounds the government of Bulgaria, and enshrouds the fate and the future of the hapless Battenburg, who has struggled so gamely to maintain his balance—and, if we knew the exact truth, we might perhaps add his head. The oldest hands in diplomacy have been bsfflsd to make anything of it, and it is probable that none have been more astonished than the Czar and M. de Giers biraself at the outburst of national enthnsiasm which for a time overthrew the machinations of his enemies and brought the Prince back amid rejoicings to his capital. Then, again, Europe had a fresh surprise. Scarcely settled down at the Court before the unfortunate monarch pens a letter, couched in humiliating term 3 to the Czar, proffering his entire submission, and offering to act entirely in accordance with the advice and commands of hi? Imperial master. His change of conduct has been undoubtedly occasioned by the discovery that Prince Bismarck and M. de Giers are in accord as to the policy to be pursued, and equally agreed in their dislike of Alexander. Finding therefore that no aid is to be expected from his brethren in blood and country, and that it would be impossible to maintain his position in antagonism with the united Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg, the Prince of Bulgaria once again, by his own accord, quits the land he for seven years ha 3 gallantly at. tempted to rule. The Prince’s farewell to his adopted country is maDly and pathetic, and that the people themselves entertain a profound respect for him is undoubted. Asked if he ■would again consent to rule over them, should he be re-elected by a unanimous vote, he is reported to have replied in the Affirmative. The conduct of Russia throughout the whole

of this transaction ha 3 been dastardly to a degree. The midnight attack on the Palace, the capture of the Prince, his ill-treatment during his forced journey, and his subsequent humiliation, has been all in accordance with the well-known methods of Muscovite diplomacy, the ultimate end whereof no man may foresee.' The situation has undoubtedly be come dangerous and alarming, but though it pleases the Continental papers to pretend that the present situation is a snub for England, and concerns her more than any one else, nothing, as a matter of fact, is further from the troth. The Powers principally concerned. are unquestionably Germany and Austria, and if they, with complacency, can look on whilst Russia extends herself upon their fl inks, it is certainly no business of England to snatch the chestnuts out of the fire. Nevertheless, we must not conceal from ourselves the fact that the Government of the Czar is pursuing with a steadfast purpose, which only an autocratic despotism can maintain, a deep laid plan both of extension and aggrandisement, and but a few years must elapse, if indeed the time be not nearer than that, when Turk and Muscovite will once again be locked in tbe agonieß of a deadly struggle for the possession of Constantinople. VVe are looking on at home ,with some interest to see what the noble Lords Salisbury and Randolph Churchill will do in the present difficulty. Had Mr Gladstone been in office, tbe Tory journals would have teemed with blatant leaders, moaning over the humiliation of their country, and longing vainly for the firm hand and bold policy of a Salisbury or a Beaconsfield. Well, now'is the time. Let them show what they can do to frustrate the machinations of a Bismarck and a Giers, or, if they fail and eat humble pie, then let them for ever after hold their peace. The real fact of the case is that the people of Great Britain are sick of any connection with these Continental squabbles, and tbe indifference of the people must, perforce affect their rulers. By mixing ourselves in these useless quarrels we have everything to lose and nothing whatever to gain. The European war dogs are straining in the leash, and ready at any moment to fly at each other’s throats. Let them fly ; we shall be gainers by looking on, we shall be losers by interference. Every, year the British taxpayers have to meet £28,000,000 of interest on a debt accumulate! almost entirely by participation during two centuries in the contentions of our neighbors, and for all the vast expenditure of blood and treasure, it would be difficult to point to a yard of territory that would not have been equally well obtained without it. I observe that the official German papers have been directed to inform the world that the reason why Germany continues armed is because of the bloated armaments of France. Fifteen years have now elapsed since the siege of Paris, bnt not .a sign is evident anywhere of any mitigation in the • deadly animosity of the two countries. Sooner or later it must break out. The tension year by year becomes unbearable, and the drain on the resources of each country is simply deplorable. Doubtless the friendly attitude of the German Court toward that of the Czar is due to the. possibility of this contest, and the dangerous position in which Germany would be placed by an alliance between the Colossub of the East and that of the West. 7 BURMAH. The Radicals are getting angry, and not, it must be admitted, without some reason, at the continued fighting and misrule which is going on in our newly-cocquered territory. The history of our career in Upper Burmah is the history of our career in almost every Asian state that has succumbed to our rule. First resistance, more or less severe ; then, for a time, complete collapse on the part of the enemy ; then the commencement of a guerilla warfare, prolonged over an indefinite period, and a consequent perpetual drain of life and money, until at length severe measures are taken, and the old British mistake of underrating the enemy been atoned for and changed into a more sensible attitude. The present state of affairs in Upper Burmah is both discreditable and disastrous ; the city of Mandalay must, between fire and water, have been practically destroyed by this time, and if the wretched inhabitants preferred the despotism of Theebaw to the indifference of Dufferin it would not be a matter of astonishment. However, we are assured now that 30,000 troops are to be thrown into the country, and that order is to be restored at all hazards ; but, meanwhile, who is to pay the piper ? This is the string that the Radical party are now harping upon, and have made the text for a discus-ion in Parliament. At present the entire burden falls upon India, but it is alleged that [the surplus revenues from Lower Burmah are fully enough to meet the extra expenditure in the other part of the province. If this be so there certainly is no reason in the world why the British taxpayer should be asked to contribute a peony ; but the true Radical member is always anxiouß that this unfortunate being should be made to fully understand and suffer for the mistakes or blunders of his superiors. TROUBLE IN INDIA. Trouble is threatened us because, forsooth, the Maharajah Dhuleep Sing could not live at his estate in Norfolk on the very handsome allowance of £40,000 a year without getting into debt. This Prince was not allowed to succeed his father' when the India Government took over the Punjaub, and he apparently seemed so far resigned to his fate that he actually took over his allowance, and tried to figure as an English nobleman, even to the forsaking of his religion, and becoming a Christian—in name at any rate. However, as ycur readers may remember, he sometime since altered his mind, sold 'up everthing he possessed, and abjured the creed of his adopted country. Prevented from returning to India he ha 3 caused, apparently out of sheer malice and wrongheadedness, a seditious proclamation to be pat about that he intends siding with Russia against his former friends, and rumors have been allowed to circulate in the bazaars that he is in Afghan territory, and about to head an Afghan army with the avowed determination of fighting against England on the first opportunity. Fortunately the Indian Princes, and it is hoped also many other natives, are pretty well aware that to exchange the yoke of the Queen for that of the 'Czar would be bnt jumping from the fryingpan into the fire. Probably the end for the Maharajah will be confinement and a restriction of a liberty that he did not know how to value until toolate.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. The British Association this year holds its annual meeting at Birmingham, and, in com-, mon with much eleo, bears witness to the growing union between the Mother country and its colouies. The President is a Canadian, to wit, Sir William Dawepn, principal of McGill College, Montreal, and a very interesting address (of which more anon) he certainly gave to his assemble! brethren. Incidentally he referred to Imperial Federation, and the decided step forward which has been taken in this ditection by the opening of the Colonial Exhibition at South Kensington, and in a wider sense be alluded to the projected scientific convention which has been suggested between England and America, a&d partly agreed to during the visit of the Association to Morpeth iu 1884. A very interesting rivalry has been exhibited by the municipal authorities of Sydney and Melbourne in asking for a meeting on Australian soil in 1888, the centenary of the colony, but owing to the great distance, it was decided that the generous proposal must be declined. Nevertheless it was practically agreed that a large deputation of forty or fifty members should visit first one city and then the other, and already an offer has been received from Sydney to pay all expenses incurred. Sir Graham Berry, not to be behind hand, wired his superiors at Melbourne for similar instructions, which doubtless will be forthcoming in time.

Sir William Dawson b address, bearing as it did particularly on the phenomena of earthquakes, was specially interesting , at a moment when the globe is being so terribly shaken by convulsions in nearly every latitude. In the opinion of this eminent geologist, the interior of the earth is hard, surrounded in turn by a miss of semi-molten matter, and terminating at the surface in a thin hard crust. Indeed, he aptly likened it to a stone fruit having a hard kernel, a mass of palp, and on the top of all a tough elastic skin. Earthquakes, he points out, are due to more than one cause. Some, for example, may be produced by a shrinkage or drying up of the outer crust, whilst others, those especially accompanied with volcanic eruptions, are brought about by activity in the semi fluid pulp or molten matter. These perpetual changes are watched by physicists with great interest, owing more especially to their influence on the equilibrium of the planet aod <be con-eluent possible change in climatic conditions. Indeed, tbe whole address abounded in interesting matter. A movement has been set on foot for visiting and exploring the Antartic circle, with a view to reach the south pole. Nothing stands in the way except ice, and the want of money, and a 3 the interesting locality in question is an appanage of the Antipodes, the Australian Governments are to be asked to vote a eum of £IO,OOO apiece toward the removal of one of the difficulties, and a cool £150.000 is further named as the contribution of the long suffering taxpayer at Home. Officers of the Royal Navy are to be enlisted, and that establishment is to be asked to furnish a ship or ships. The question is, is the game worth the candle ? We incline to think not. Doubtless certain scientific facts could be proved, but the direct advantage to the human race is very doubtful indeed. The ice is believed to be miles in thickness, but the dangers of the undertaking are supposed to be less than in the case of the Northern exploration. NOTE FOR SMOKERS. Votaries of the weed should notice a startling remark by Dr M. Foster in a discussion which has taken place about color blindness—a defect, it appears, very much more common than people are aware. I may remark that a Liverpool surgeon has been making some inquiries lately on the subject, and found in a number of sailors examined that at least 3*40 per cent had this serious, and in one aspect dangerous, defect. It is the opinion of this gentleman that the recent accident to the Servia was caused entirely by color blindness on the part of one or other of the officers in charge. It is startling to know what is undoubtedly the fact that there are many river captains of tugs, aud river Bteamera in special, who are either partly or entirely color-blind. However, to return to Dr Foster. He has declared that the pernicious practice of smoking, and especially when the smoker confines himself to one kind of tobacco, is capable of bringing about partial or' total color-blindness, more particularly as to red. ' Whether this is a mare’s nest or not, or really based on fact, we do not know, and have only the word of Dr Foster to guide us ; but certainly, so far as I know, this theory has never been put forward before. THE LANCET. Talking of doctors, reminds me that the editor of thi3 eminent weekly journal is dead, and no one who did uot know the past history of this gentleman would imagine from the sober columns of the tie vspaper in question, wbat a lively dog Dr Wakley was forty years ago. Indeed, the conduct of the Lancet has rather a reputation for being of the old woman stamp, inasmuch as enormous mare|s nests are always being discovered, and death and disease proclaimed to lurk in even the commonest articles of every day use, so much so, that if one attended to every warning, life would become well nigh intolerable. But whatever the editor may have become in later years, as I just now observed, he had his wi:d and boisterous days like the rest of his brethren. Tnere is a story told of him, how that on one occasion he attended a fancy ball, garnished with horns, hoofs and tail of a certain familiar individual. In the course of the evening ho approached a languid swell, who, glass in eye, was surveying the varied scene with ill-disguised contempt. “ Who are you ?” said the blasd individual to Wakley. “ Why, don’t yon see,” was the reply. “ I am the devil.” “ Then go to was the response. \Wakley, it is said, retired after this rebuff, and was seen no more for the remainder of the eveningi THE COURT. The Court is so quiet that nothing is doing to call for any comment. It certainly does seem a pity that advantage was not taken of the presence of eo many visitors from the colonies and elsewhere to hold the jubilee this year instead of next. The weather has been propitious, and though politics are unsettled and trade is bad, we have no guarantee that it will be any better next year. The Royal circle is said to be much disturbed by events in Bulgaria, whose prince is, as we _all know, a Battenburg, and brother to Prince Henry,

husband of Princess Beatrice. Hence the Queen and her daughter would liKe to interfere in the Ea?t, but the Prince of Wales and his brother of Edinburgh care not for the Battenburg race, and do not object to see it humiliated ia the { e Eon of its chief. The marriage of the Princess was offensive to the other members of the Royal family, and they take care to show it. I mast mention that a Gaelic translation of Her Majesty’s book, “ More Leaves,” Js announcad. Anent this valuable work, there is a story told about the late Mr Disraeli, that he once was overheard to tell the Queen that when he wanted literary consolation he had recourse to three books, and only three—to wit, the Bible, Shakespeare, and “ Toe Journal of <ur Life in the Highlands !” This tolerably well accords with another pronouncement of the noble Earl, that when he flattered ordinary persons belaid it on with a spoon, but that when he approached Royalty for a similar purpose' he employed a trowel. In the case in point he must have used a spade. He used, often in his later years, to congratulate himself on tbe change which took place in the feelings of Her Majesty toward himself. When first he kissed hands on appointment to office, it is said that the Queen submitted to the manual compliment with marked aversion. Prince Albert, it is well-known, entertained a strong dislike to him, and had he lived, the influence of the nobie Earl would never have been what it ultimately became.